Labyrinthine
by Jaxin88
Summary: They may have left the time windows behind, but for once, Rose is going to ignore the Doctor's unspoken rule to never look back. She has to. A post-GitF fic.


**A/N: this is another one-shot, written for the TARDIS ficathon over on Tumblr. My prompt was "Maze Room", and the angst bug refused to let me go.**

Rose slammed the TARDIS's doors open, her eyes ablaze. The bells of Jaxofrye were still ringing outside, echoing in through the open doorway until the Doctor stormed in after her and slammed the doors behind him.

His voice was a low growl as he stalked over to her, his coat billowing. "Don't you walk away from me! I said, what did you think you were doing?"

"I _thought_ I was havin' some fun with the person who rescued us. Or did you forget that part? Must not've been too hard, what with your face in Her Highness's bosom all night."

"I can't help her height! And this isn't about me!"

Rose snorted, crossing her arms. "Really? You're certainly trying hard enough to make it that way."

There was a muffled knock at the door, and they could just barely make out Mickey's voice on the other side. Rose stomped over and yanked it open, glaring at the Doctor as Mickey stumbled in.

He straightened, clutching his side and panting. "Blimey, you guys weren't kiddin' about the running, were you? What happened back there?" Stony silence answered him, and he glanced between them and winced. The look on Rose's face—flared nostrils, reddened cheeks, and narrowed eyes—was one that was intimately, painfully familiar to him. It was usually the precursor to the dreaded Tyler slap. "Blimey, what's with you two?"

Rose's hands tightened into fists. "Nothing."

The Doctor threw up his hands. "That wasn't _nothing_—do you know what that dance means on this planet?"

"YES." He blinked, obviously taken aback, and she crossed her arms with a huff. "What, did you think I'd be stupid enough to jump into somethin' like that without finding out what it meant?"

He shook his head angrily, his lip tightening. "Well, it certainly looks like you were! He wanted to... to... _dance_ with you!"

Mickey stuffed his hands in his pockets. "The Doctor's right, you did look like a bit of a slapper out there."

They both spun to glare at him. "Shut UP, Mickey."

"Right, I can see when I'm not wanted. Good luck." He snorted, his muttering fading into the hallway as he stalked away. "Barmy, the both of them."

Rose turned back to the Doctor, her shoulders stiff. "Maybe I was up for a little dancing, did you ever think about that?"

He stared at her, aghast. "How can you say that?"

She tossed her hair. "Easily. Mickey an' I aren't together any more, after all, and Helos was a great guy." She glared up at him, a clear challenge in her eyes. "He liked me, I liked him, I don't see what the problem is."

He turned away to stare at the console, the muscles of his jaw twitching. "So that's your idea of a good decision? Running off to _dance_ with whomever catches your eye?"

She barked out a laugh at that, resting her hands on her hips. "God, can you even hear yourself right now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're the genius. I'm sure it'll come to you."

His eyes narrowed, then widened abruptly. "Is this about _Reinette?_"

She threw her hands up in the air. "Full marks to the Time Lord!"

The Doctor stiffened, his face going still as a frozen lake. "Oh, Rose. I thought you were better than that."

"An' I thought _you _were better than abandoning me an' Mickey on a spaceship full of murderous robots, but I guess we're both just going to have to be disappointed, aren't we?"

He turned abruptly, his movements jerky as he took them into the Vortex. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Rose gripped the railing so tightly that her knuckles pressed against her skin, pale and strained. "Right, 'cause I'm just the stupid ape, aren't I? After all, I'm going to wither and die, so what does it matter what I think?"

He spun around and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't you _dare_ talk about that."

Rose shook him off angrily. Some of her hair had come loose from her ponytail and was drifting around her face, brushing against her flushed cheeks. "Don't touch me."

He stepped closer, crowding her into the railing. His voice was low and dark, firing something low in her stomach. "You had no problem with Helos touching you earlier."

She raised her chin. "What I choose to do with my body is none of your business."

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Like hell it isn't."

_Smack_.

There was a sudden silence in the room, the stillness after the sharp sound of palm hitting flesh drowning out even the noise of the TARDIS's engines. Rose was glaring up at him, her eyes filled with angry tears. "You don't get to say that to me. Not after treating me the way you have."

He scowled, forcing down his guilt and stomping on it. "Because it's all about _you_. How utterly human."

"That's right, because I _am_ human, an' I don't like being treated like I'm nothing. Not after I've given up my whole life to be with you."

The Doctor barked out a sharp laugh at that, his eyes frighteningly dark. "Oh, that's rich, coming from you."

Rose stilled, her eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"How do you think you survived that asinine stunt on the Game Station, hmm?"

"No. No." She stepped back against the rail, shaking her head frantically. "That's not true, it was because of the Daleks—"

The Doctor loomed closer, towering over her. "It was because of _you_. So I wouldn't talk about giving up lives, if I were you."

She stood motionless for a moment before shoving him aside and storming down the hallway.

He blinked and followed her, his lips curling up into a snarl. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To go pack."

The Doctor froze, shock dousing every other emotion in a sudden flood as she slammed her door open. He followed her in a rush, sudden anger roaring over his fear. "What? Why?!"

"Because obviously you don't want me here, idiotic human waste of space that I apparently am." She froze and looked around as the door swung shut behind them with a loud click. "And where's my bloody room?"

They were standing in a tall corridor, the walls themselves lit with a soft, almost bioluminescent light. Rose spun to jerk the door open again, but as they watched it dissolved into the wall. She glared at the Doctor, fury written in every line of her petite frame. "What the hell? Let me _out_, you bastard!"

"I'm not doing this!"

"Right, like I believe that!"

He dragged a hand through his hair, eyes wide. "D'you think I want to be stuck in here, too?!"

Rose growled, actually _growled_, and started to stomp down the hallway. "Who the fuck knows what you want?"

He grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him, his hands clenched tight on her shoulders. "You certainly don't."

Her jaw tightened and she struggled against him, trying to loosen his grip. "Yeah, well, you don't seem to either, and I've had enough. Now let me go."

"Never," he growled, pushing her against the glowing wall and slamming his palms on either side of her head, trapping her in place. "You are _mine_, Rose."

"Oh, that's rich. I'm yours, but you're free to go swanning off after whichever animal-vegetable-mineral catches your eye?"

He pulled back as if she'dslapped him. "Do you honestly think I would ever notice anyone but you?"

She shoved him away and strode down the hall, her steps heavy and fast. "You've certainly done enough to prove that to me. I guess I finally started paying attention."

The Doctor followed her, his voice raised angrily. "Are you _really _that thick?"

"God, you're definitely keeping up the rudeness, aren't you? And what the _hell_ is this place?" They had reached the end of the hallway, and the serene walls split in two.

The Doctor groaned, memories from long ago flooding through his mind. The layout was different, but the purpose was frighteningly familiar. "Oh, Rassilon. She's put us in the maze room."

Rose was still for a long moment before nodding her head jerkily. "Right." She spun around to head back the direction they had come from, but that hallway had turned into another junction. She closed her eyes and slumped against the wall, thumping it lightly with her fists. "Please don't do this to me. Not today."

The walls were silent, gleaming peacefully, and the Doctor's jaw clenched. "She'll only let us out when she decides we're ready."

Rose groaned and turned around, glaring at the Doctor. "You've got to be joking. Your ship's put us into bloody_ time out_?"

"_I_ didn't do it!"

"She bloody well wouldn't have locked us in here if you hadn't been acting like a prat!"

"Oh, so it's only me that's been misbehaving." Rose crossed her arms, glaring at the walls, and he smirked. A light current shot up from the floor, and he yelped.

Rose glanced over, her mouth tight. "What?"

"She just shocked me!"

She smirked. "So much for your rubber soles." The floor tilted away from her and she shrieked, stumbling towards solid ground—which was only under the Doctor's feet. She grabbed his jacket, her feet scrabbling for purchase in the towering heels she'd worn to the Jaxofrye celebration, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

Rose closed her eyes and thumped her forehead against his chest. Her voice was muffled against the wrinkled cotton of his suit. "I love you, but sometimes you are really, _really _annoying."

He blinked and swallowed, the last of his anger shocked out of his system. "Are you talking to me?"

Her fists clenched on his lapels, and what he could see of her face blanched. "No! I'm talking to your blasted ship!"

"Right. Yes. Of course." The lights dimmed, and a faraway corridor lit up. He cleared his throat. "I think she wants us to head that way."

Rose stepped back, checking the ground carefully, and sighed. "Sure."

The lit corridor led into another, and then another. The clack of Rose's heels and the soft thud of his trainers were the only sounds that interrupted the silence, and the Doctor dug his hands into his pockets. From the moment he met her, Rose had slid into his life as naturally as breathing. Now, though, now she strode beside him without speaking, her stride short and angry.

And it was all his fault. He had abandoned her—left her to almost die on a nameless spaceship while he played at being a knight in pinstriped armor—only days after he had promised to never leave her.

He remembered her sensual dance with Helos, the Jaxofrian's dark skin pressed so close to her own, and closed his eyes against the burning rage that threatened to overwhelm him. Could he blame her? Who was he, to claim she was his?

Rose's steps had slowed as the Doctor berated himself, and she reached out to catch his arm as she stopped. "The thing is, all I can keep thinking is_ why?_ Why would you treat me—_us_—like that? What the hell did we do?"

The Doctor stared at the walls, his gaze unfocused. "You didn't do anything. Mickey, either." He closed his eyes. "I'm so old, Rose."

He felt her step closer and opened her eyes to find her staring up at him, her jaw clenched tight. "And? What does that have to do with anything?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry."

Rose stilled, then stepped back. She wasn't looking at him. "You say that a lot, you know."

"And I _mean _it. I do."

"Doesn't change the fact that you needed to say it in the first place." She swallowed and looked up, finally _finally _meeting his eyes. "Look, I know that I'm human, that you're gonna keep going long after I've gone." She took in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, ignoring his flinch. "But if we've only got so much time together, how much longer are you gonna spend running away from me? 'Cause it's not fair, how you've been treating me, Doctor. It's not fair to me, an' it's not fair to you." She looked away. "Hell, it wasn't even fair to Reinette."

He looked away, and his hands tightened on air. "Rose, you don't understand."

"Then _tell_ me!" Rose lifted her chin. "'Cause if you really think pushing me away is going to make your future easier to handle, then I'll save you the effort, an' I'll go."

"No." The word was out before he could even think it, echoing against the serene walls. She was watching him with wide eyes, and he swallowed and repeated himself, his voice softer this time. "No. Don't go, Rose. Please don't go."

She wrapped her arms around her ribs, the soft tan of her skin contrasting sharply against the deep purple of her dress. "Then stop pushin' me away."

His breath rushed out of him in a wave of relief, and he pulled her into his arms. She was stiff for a moment before melting into his embrace. "Never again, Rose." He closed his eyes against the timelines shimmering under her skin. No matter their future, he owed Rose his present.

She would be his past soon enough.


End file.
